After confirming Ban’s face, Winod approached with strides and a hardened expression.
Ban, who had been engaging in affectionate behavior with Orma without caring about people’s gazes, hastily hid his suddenly spreading embarrassment and quickly separated from Orma. However, before Ban could even properly greet him, Winod frowned and shouted furiously.
“Ban! I never thought you’d do such a thing! Have you now decided to leave Serka’s embrace and live a secular life?”
“Priest Winod, that’s not it…”
“Just how did you escape from Hell? Or did you pretend to enter Hell and use trickery to run away?”
As if he would unleash all the anger he’d been suppressing at this opportunity, Winod’s eyes gleamed with excitement as he rapidly fired accusations, and his gaze and tone contained strong conviction.
So even you, who were so haughty and pretentious, must have ultimately run away because you feared death. A traitor who left to find only your own way to live, not caring whether the world perished from disaster or not! There’s no way someone like you could be the seeker who will save the world as mentioned in the prophecy. I was always wary, but it’s truly tragic that everyone failed to notice your ugly inner nature…
He unhesitatingly revealed such inner thoughts mixed with jealousy and envy as he pressed Ban.
As Winod continued to intimidate and pour all kinds of criticism on Ban, Orma, who had been quietly listening from behind, tilted his head crookedly. Just that small movement was enough to snap Ban to attention, and he subtly pulled Orma’s arm to convey that he was fine, then began carefully observing Winod from head to toe.
Why is Priest Winod in Gillia? The priests of Serka called the disaster caused by sunlight the ‘Erosion of Light’ and absolutely refused to go outside the temple. Yet if he had traveled all the way from the temple where Ban had been to Gillia, it meant there was a fairly serious matter at hand.
No matter how you looked at it, Winod’s appearance was not good. There were traces everywhere showing he’d rushed here so frantically that he could be mistaken for a beggar. Winod’s hair, which was always neatly arranged, was disheveled, his beard was bushy, and his priest’s robe was full of dust. His eyes were bloodshot, and the dark circles that had darkened from exhaustion were pitiful to see. There were no other priests visible around him either. It was clear he had hurriedly traveled alone because of some urgent matter.
Ban slowly opened his mouth only when Winod, who had been hurling words close to abuse, was finally out of breath and panting.
“What business brings Priest Winod to Gillia? Did you come alone?”
“Wh-why are you curious about that!”
Why is he so flustered? Winod belatedly looked around as if he had something on his conscience, then noticed the gazes and tried to compose himself. After catching his breath, lowering his voice, and organizing himself with a calm face, he spoke to Ban again.
“So you couldn’t prevent the disaster after all, could you? If you were so afraid of entering Hell, why did you speak with such certainty that you were definitely the savior mentioned in the prophecy?”
“…Do you think I ran away, Priest?”
“W-well then?”
“Don’t you think I met the Evil God at the end of Hell and came out safely?”
At Ban’s words, Winod drew in a breath with a face that had turned pale. Then he shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it.
“That’s impossible. Then where is that Evil God? Why didn’t you bring the Evil God back to the temple?”
If I said we’re traveling together, you’d faint right here. Ban smiled cynically and shrugged his shoulders.
“Couldn’t the Evil God also be wandering the world alone? While saying the temple is distasteful.”
“Ha! You’re all talk! That can’t be. Considering the Evil God’s enormous malice and hatred, if it wandered the world freely, the world would immediately perish.”
“That’s strange. Then why did you call the priests ‘Messengers of God’ and try to pull the Evil God out of Hell? Wasn’t it because of the prophecy that said the disaster would disappear and destruction could be prevented only with the Evil God?”
“You’re still naive because you don’t know the world yet. If we just bring the Evil God out and bring it to the temple, the Serka of Light will gladly purify the Evil God.”
In other words, even if Orma came out to save the world, they wouldn’t have trusted Orma. And Serka thinks she can ‘reform’ such an Orma.
A sigh escaped involuntarily. A question suddenly arose in Ban’s complicated mind.
Is Winod really the only one who thinks this way? That Orma is an insane god, that he can’t be trusted, that Serka will reform him… that Ban, who was thought to be the seeker in the prophecy, disgracefully ran away, and that Orma is still in Hell. Does only Winod really think that way? Do the other priests at the temple think differently?
If everyone thinks similarly to Winod…
“…Don’t tell me you’re still throwing sacrifices into Hell to awaken the Evil God?”
“Sa-sacrifices! They’re Messengers of God trying to carry out a great mission after receiving a revelation…”
“That’s what a sacrifice is! The Evil God has already escaped from Hell!”
“Haha, who on earth would believe that, hmm?”
Unable to easily deny Winod’s words, Ban bit his lip. Was that why Banan sculpted Orma’s form with water, in case something like this happened? Despite Banan’s efforts, it seemed rumors that Orma had appeared in Siol and manifested his divine power hadn’t reached the temple.
And there was no way the snake tribe of the Black Wildwood, who lived in hiding and seclusion, would spread rumors. If I’d known this would happen, I should have spread more word about Orma’s appearance…
“Ban, do you remember Tishi, who shared a room with you? Before I left the temple, the glorious next Messenger of God was Tishi. Hahaha!”
What’s so funny? No matter how you packaged it with the words ‘Messenger of God,’ it was ultimately a sacrifice being pushed to death—Ban knew it and Winod knew it. Winod was now blaming Ban, saying that because you ran away in fear, your friend Tishi became the next sacrifice.
Before entering Hell, Ban had left Tishi with the words to run away if he became a Messenger of God. However, he didn’t know how seriously Tishi had taken those words, or whether he had succeeded in escaping.
Orma was no longer in Hell, but that place was called Hell ultimately because it was an environment humans couldn’t endure. Even if it was a lukewarm temperature where people could live, as when Ban had entered, they were ultimately ordinary humans with no way to get out of Hell. In the end, they would have died when morning or night eventually came.
As Ban quietly suppressed his anger, Winod became high-spirited and began spouting whatever words came to mind that might provoke him.
“Ah, poor Tishi! That child believed in you, but you’ve been living here luxuriously as the son of Duke Lebesi! How betrayed would Tishi feel if he knew this fact!”
Well, Tishi would just be amazed at seeing me, not feel betrayed. Ban wasn’t particularly interested in Winod’s low-quality provocation, but what he’d just said was somehow strange.
“When did you arrive in Gillia, Priest Winod?”
“Wh-why are you curious about that?”
“Because you look like you just arrived. You must have had a hard time.”
“That’s right, you noticed well! Do you know how much I suffered while you ran away and lived affluently here?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
And I’m not particularly curious. Ban stared at Winod quietly with cold eyes. Then he tilted his head as if finding it strange and said.
“But Priest Winod… you’re certain that I must have lived luxuriously and affluently in Gillia.”
“Isn’t that obvious! As the heir of Duke Lebesi, you’d be living without any lack…!”
“That’s just it, Priest. I have no connection to Lebesi whatsoever. Why don’t you ask the people on the street whether Duke Lebesi has even announced that he found his lost son?”
“…Wh-what?”
“Isn’t it strange? Priest Winod speaks as if you knew… that I was the son of Duke Lebesi.”
I thought I was an orphan who didn’t even know my parents until now… As Ban muttered this addition, Winod’s face gradually turned pale as if he had noticed his mistake.
Thinking back, there had been loopholes. If they said they didn’t know who Ban’s parents were and took him in at the temple because he was an orphan, why did they know Ban was a descendant of Saint Herna? He’d taken it for granted because it was the background and setting he’d seen in the game, but it certainly didn’t make sense.
The priests had favored Ban even before the disaster struck. Because they treated him warmly enough to make his orphan background seem meaningless, he’d thought they truly cherished him with broad hearts and glossed over it. But they had shown no particular interest in Tishi, who was in a similar situation, and rather mistreated him. As the puzzle pieces in his head fit together one by one, Ban’s mood rather sank darker and darker.
“Did the temple… make some kind of deal with Duke Lebesi regarding me?”
